A wide variety of blanket cleaning systems and apparatus employing the same to clean the cylinders of printing presses are known. Typical blanket cleaning systems and apparatus employing the same, including cleaning blankets and cleaning solutions, are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,448 to Moestue which is directed to a mechanism for cleaning a cylinder that is provided with a cleaning cloth which is wetted with a cleaning fluid or solution prior to its encountering the pressure roller; U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,391 to Futch et al. is directed to a composition for ink removal that exhibits a low vapor pressure and which is a low vapor pressure organic compound; U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,182 to Sawaguchi et al. is directed to a cleaning apparatus in which a cleaning cloth is dampened by a liquid; U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,716 to Gerson is directed to a wash for removing ink comprising a low volatile organic compound; U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,739 to Loos is directed to a washing device comprising a cleaning cloth dampened with a washing medium and U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,128 to Hara is directed to a device for cleaning a cylinder of a printing machine comprising a cleaning cloth impregnated with a cleaning liquid.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,567 to Staehr is directed to a liquid for cleaning ink from printing machines; U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,342 to Hara is directed to a method for cleaning the cylinder of a printing machine; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,639 to Krawack is directed to a cloth moistened with a low vapor pressure cleaning agent for removing ink; whereas U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,754 to Weltman et al. is directed to a cloth soaked with a cleaning formula and U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,173 to Folkard et al. is directed to a method for removing ink from printing machines. Still further, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,344,361 and 4,757,763 to MacPhee et al. is directed to automatic blanket cylinder cleaners provided with cleaner fabrics adapted to contact the blanket cylinders of printing presses. On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,080 to Gasparrini et al. is directed to a cloth supply system for the blanket cylinder for use in printing presses.
While the above-mentioned patents accomplish their purposes to a satisfactory extent, they still exhibit a variety of drawbacks. For example, they usually require apparatus, such as pumps, spray bars, manifold lines, valves, and the like as part of the automatic blanket cleaning systems for introducing the cleaning solvents or solutions to the cleaning fabric just prior to actual use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,157 to Gasparrini et al., the present applicants, attempted to overcome these problems. That patent is directed to a pre-packaged, pre-soaked cleaning system for use with printing machines or the like to clean the cylinders of such machines and which comprises a pre-soaked fabric roll saturated to equilibrium with low volatility organic compound solvent and which is disposed around an elongated, cylindrical core and a sealed or a shrunken and sealed plastic sleeve disposed around and in contact with the fabric roll, whereby the pre-soaked saturated roll can be transported and stored vertically and/or horizontally until use without substantially disturbing the distribution of the solvent in the fabric roll and detrimentally effecting the cleaning ability of the fabric.
While the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,157 works for its intended purpose, improvements have been discovered. When the patented product is placed in the vertical position, the solvent would shift downward in the evacuated package. When the package is restored to the horizontal position, the solvent migrates back towards equilibrium in the roll. This migration is caused by air pockets in the fabric of the roll.
There exists, therefore, a need for providing a blanket cleaning system which improves upon the above-mentioned conditions. The present invention fulfills such a need.